BREAKING: Court Grants Emefiele Permission To Travel Out Of FCT
Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has granted the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele’s request to travel out of the FCT. The court said Emefiele must, however, remain in the country. On his bail terms, he was restricted to the FCT. Emefiele, through his lawyer, Mathew Bukka, SAN, had requested a variation of the terms. The Counsel of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, did not object. He told the court to ensure that Emefiele wrote an undertaking that he would remain in the country if his plea was granted. The charge against the former governor of the CBN was also amended to 20 from 6. The amended charges against Emefiele now includes criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to commit felony.
Taraba: Deputy Gov Alkali confident of victory at S’Court
Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Aminu Abdullahi Alkali has expressed optimism that the People’s Democratic Party PDP and governor Kefas Agbu will emerge victorious in a legal battle against them at the Supreme Court. The New Nigeria People’s Party NNPP and its governorship candidate, Prof Yahaya Sani are contesting the victory of the governor and PDP in the last year March 18 gubernatorial election in Taraba State. The Deputy Governor, who was at the Apex Court on Wednesday to witness proceedings in an appeal filed by NNPP and Sani said that the coast has appeared very clear for the two respondents to be victorious. He praised the transparent and unambiguous ways and manners proceedings at the Supreme Court are being conducted adding that the court has shown that there can never be miscarriage of justice. The position of the Deputy Governor followed the request by the lead counsel to governor Agbu and PDP, Kanu Agabi SAN to the apex court to either strike out the case the appellants or dismiss it outrightly. Agabi who led a retinue of senior lawyers told Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun led panel of five Justices that the case of the NNPP and its governorship candidate was lacking in merit and substance. He said that the appeal of the appellants was grossly incompetent to be considered because of the several flaws in the way the case was couched and presented at the Apex Court. The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC adopted the arguments canvassed by the governor’s lawyer in resolving the dispute on the governorship election. However, lead counsel to the NNPP and Sani, Olusegun Jolaawo SAN appealed to the Justices to allow the case of his clients and grant all the reliefs they are praying. The Court of Appeal had in Abuja affirmed the election of PDP and Kefas Agbu as Governor of Taraba State. The three-member panel of the appellate court in two separate appeals held that Agbu, was lawfully declared winner of the March 18 governorship election in Taraba State. The appellate court held that the allegations of non-compliance, irregularities and other malpractices were not proved by the appellants in line with the provisions of the law. In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Peter Affen, the appellate court had faulted the appellants for dumping documents on the court, stressing that even if there was manifest incidents of malpractices or irregularities on the face of the documents, the appellants ought to have led oral evidence to support the allegations. Besides, the court of appeal had dismissed the appeal for being incompetent and lacking in merit on grounds that the record of proceedings transmitted to the appellate court was not complete. It will be recalled that a three-man panel of justices led by Justice G. A. Sunmonu of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had on September 30 dismissed the petition filed by the NNPP and its governorship candidate for lacking in merit.
FCC Chair, Secretary: Lawyer urges President Tinubu to enforce Court Judgement
An Abuja based legal practitioner, Mr Festus Onifade, has called onPresident Bola Tinubu, to correct the appointment of the Federal Character Commission (FCC)’s chairman and secretary by the previous government. This was contained in a certified true copy of a letter to President Tinubu, in Abuja, Wednesday, that was copied to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Sen. George Akume, and Chief Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. On April 28, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Muheeba Dankaka as FCC chairman for a five-year tenure and was confirmed by the Senate on June 2, 2020. Buhari also approved the appointment of Bello Tukur as FCC’s secretary on April 14, 2017, and was reappointed on March 12, 2021, for a term of four years.While Dankaka is from Kwara, Tukur hails from Taraba; the duo coming from the northern geopolitical zone. Meanwhile, in a letter dated Jan. 16 and titled: “Appeal to Mr President to Safeguard the Integrity of Federal Character Commission,” the constitutional lawyer prayed the president to give effect to the court judgment. The letter reads; “It is against this background that we make this appeal to you sir to give effect to the judgement of the court by appointing persons from different geo-political zones who will represent the diversity recognized in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended). “Mr. President sir, it may not have come to notice that the morale of staff is at all-time low and this singular incident has caused a lot of resentment among staff of the commission. “This is particularly because the commission itself is guilty of the infractions it was constitutional and statutory created to remedy.“Sir like the popular saying ‘remove the log in your eyes, before the log in mine.’ Mr. President Sir, your timely intervention will remedy this anomaly and restore the commission back to performing its constitutional and statutory functions efficiently. “It will also restore confidence of Nigerians in this administration as a government of inclusion, endearing hope in governance, and giving every Nigerian a sense of belonging.” Onifade, in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/709/2021, sued the president, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), FCC, Dankaka and Tukur as 1st to 5th defendants respectively at the Federal High Court, Abuja. In the originating summons dated and filed on July 19, 2021, the lawyer sought a declaration that “the president is bound to observe and comply with the provision of Sections 7 and 8 (1), (2) (a) (b) (c) of the Third Schedule, part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) in the appointment of persons to the office of the Chairman and Secretary of FCC.” He also sought an order directing the president to immediately dissolve and reconstitute the FCC’s board in accordance with the laws. Justice Inyang Ekwo, in his judgment on Nov. 22, 2023, declared that the appointment of Dankaka and Tukur from the northern region was unlawful. FCC Chair, Secretary: Lawyer urges President Tinubu to enforce Court Judgement By Vivian Michael, Abuja An Abuja based legal practitioner, Mr Festus Onifade, has called on President Bola Tinubu, to correct the appointment of the Federal Character Commission (FCC)’s chairman and secretary by the previous government. This was contained in a certified true copy of a letter to President Tinubu, in Abuja, Wednesday, that was copied to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Sen. George Akume, and Chief Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. On April 28, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Muheeba Dankaka as FCC chairman for a five-year tenure and was confirmed by the Senate on June 2, 2020. Buhari also approved the appointment of Bello Tukur as FCC’s secretary on April 14, 2017, and was reappointed on March 12, 2021, for a term of four years. While Dankaka is from Kwara, Tukur hails from Taraba; the duo coming from the northern geopolitical zone. Meanwhile, in a letter dated Jan. 16 and titled: “Appeal to Mr President to Safeguard the Integrity of Federal Character Commission,” the constitutional lawyer prayed the president to give effect to the court judgment. The letter reads; “It is against this background that we make this appeal to you sir to give effect to the judgement of the court by appointing persons from different geo-political zones who will represent the diversity recognized in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended). “Mr. President sir, it may not have come to notice that the morale of staff is at all-time low and this singular incident has caused a lot of resentment among staff of the commission. “This is particularly because the commission itself is guilty of the infractions it was constitutional and statutory created to remedy. “Sir like the popular saying ‘remove the log in your eyes, before the log in mine.’ Mr. President Sir, your timely intervention will remedy this anomaly and restore the commission back to performing its constitutional and statutory functions efficiently. “It will also restore confidence of Nigerians in this administration as a government of inclusion, endearing hope in governance, and giving every Nigerian a sense of belonging.” Onifade, in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/709/2021, sued the president, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), FCC, Dankaka and Tukur as 1st to 5th defendants respectively at the Federal High Court, Abuja. In the originating summons dated and filed on July 19, 2021, the lawyer sought a declaration that “the president is bound to observe and comply with the provision of Sections 7 and 8 (1), (2) (a) (b) (c) of the Third Schedule, part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) in the appointment of persons to the office of the Chairman and Secretary of FCC.” He also sought an order directing the president to immediately dissolve and reconstitute the FCC’s board in accordance with the laws. Justice Inyang Ekwo, in his judgment on Nov. 22, 2023, declared that the appointment of Dankaka and Tukur from the northern region was unlawful.
New Jersey To Return $8.9m Looted Under Jonathan To Nigeria
Jersey’s Royal Court has ruled in favour of returning stolen assets valued at £6.9 million ($8.9 million) to Nigeria. The decision comes after Jersey’s Attorney General issued a forfeiture notice in November, asserting that the funds, deposited in a Jersey bank account, were likely misappropriated by Nigerian government officials in 2014. The illicit transfer of funds was reportedly disguised as government-sanctioned contracts for arms purchases during Boko Haram incursions in Nigeria between 2009 and 2015. Former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power between 2010 and 2015. It will also be recalled that a lot of controversy had surrounded the purchase of weapons in the fight against insurgency with the then National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, being accused of diverting funds meant for security equipment. Also in late 2014, a private jet belonging to the-then President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, was arrested in South Africa with $10m cash, which was allegedly meant for the purchase of military weapons. The Jersey court found that most of the funds, initially intended for legitimate arms deals, had been diverted through foreign bank accounts and shell companies linked to the former ruling party in Nigeria. Jersey’s Attorney General, Mark Temple KC, noted the collaboration between Jersey and the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the recovery process. Temple stressed the effectiveness of the 2018 Forfeiture Law in combating corruption and restoring funds to victims of crime. Plans are underway to negotiate an asset return agreement with the Nigerian government. He said: “This case again demonstrates the effectiveness of the 2018 Forfeiture Law in recovering the proceeds of corruption and restoring that money to victims of crime. “I now intend to negotiate an asset return agreement with the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
S’Court reserves judgment on Nasarawa guber appeal
The Supreme Court of Nigeria, Tuesday, reserved judgment in the Petition seeking to sack the incumbent governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressive Congress (APC). The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Hon Emmanuel David Ombugadu, is praying the apex court to set aside the November 23 judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld Sule as the lawfully elected governor. The Petitioners, through Kanu Agabi SAN submitted that the October 2, 2023 judgment of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in favour of PDP and Ombugadu be restored. According to him, the Court of Appeal unjustly nullified the Tribunal’s judgment and unjustly declared Sule as winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election. Agabi specifically called that the Supreme Court should allow the votes of Nasarawa state people to count and be meaningful be declaring PDP and Ombugadu as winners as rightly done by the Tribunal. However, Sule and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and APC, prayed court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit. APC lawyers, led by Akin Olujinmi SAN while adopting his brief of arguments asked the apex court to carefully looked into the cited authorities to back up their request for dismissal of the case. After taking arguments from lawyers, Justice Kekere-Ekun announced that judgment has been reserved and that the date for its delivery would be communicated to parties involved. The Appeal Court had on November 23 last year reversed the sack of Gov Sule by the State Election Petitions Tribunal in its judgment delivered on October 2. The Appellate Court held that the Tribunal headed by Ezekiel Ajayi acted in grave error in using witness statements on oath, not front-loaded as required by law to arrive at the unjust conclusion of nullifying the election of the governor. In a judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, the Court of Appeal had said the Tribunal was legally bound to act on witness statements filed along with the petition or front-loaded within 21 days stipulated by law. The Court held that no petition can lawfully be amended outside the 21 days allowed by law as wrongly done by the Tribunal. “Since the statements used by the Tribunal to sack the Governor were not front-loaded in compliance with the law, the statements were a product of illegality with no probate value for a law Court to act upon”. The Court also dismissed the over-voting issues used to annul the election, adding that the allegations were not established by law. Justice Onyemenam held that the petition by the Governorship candidate of the PDP was a nullity and invalid on the grounds that the jurisdictional issues raised by the governor were unlawfully ignored by the Tribunal. The Court of Appeal ruled that the Tribunal denied the Governor a fair hearing by not considering and making findings on the issues of jurisdiction raised at the hearing of the petition. Justice Onyemenam agreed that the denial of a fair hearing against the governor was fatal and tendered all decisions of the Tribunal invalid. In all, the Court of Appeal reversed all orders made against the governor and INEC and affirmed Sule as the lawfully elected governor of the state. INEC had declared Sule the winner of the governorship election on the grounds that he polled a total of 347,209 votes to defeat his closest opponent David Emmanuel Ombugadu who secured 283,016 votes.
Rivers Guber: S’Court dismisses APM’s appeal against Fubara
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeal of the Allied People’s Movement against the victory of Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara. The five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun also reserved judgment in the appeal by the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Patrick Tonye-Cole. The counsel for the APM and its candidate in the March 18 election, Innocent Kere, at proceedings on Monday opted to withdraw the appeal. The appeal was subsequently dismissed by the apex court. Tonye-Cole and APC appeal was reserved for judgment, after the court listened to the arguments of the party involved in the matter. Tonye-Cole, among others, is asking the apex court to sack Fubara, adding that the governor did not resign as the Accountant General of the state under the deadline stipulated by the constitution and the Electoral Act. The lower courts had dismissed all appeals against Fubara and upheld his election.
Plateau Speaker yet to recognise APC lawmakers after Supreme Court ruling
The Plateau State House of Assembly is facing uncertainty as Speaker Gabriel Dewan, who belongs to the Young Peoples Party (YPP), has stated that he would only recognise eight members out of the total 24. This comes after the recent Supreme Court judgment overruled the Court of Appeal’s decision that led to the sack of 16 members elected under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Appeal Court had initially removed the 16 lawmakers, citing that the PDP lacked the legitimacy to sponsor them due to internal issues within the party. Following this decision, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued certificates of return to APC members. However, the recent Supreme Court judgment, which allowed the appeal filed by Governor Caleb Mutfwang against his sack, stated that the removal of the 16 PDP members was unjustified. The Supreme Court emphasised that the APC and its candidate had no authority to interfere in the internal affairs of another political party. Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, Speaker Dewan declared that, based on the judgment, only eight members are recognised in the assembly. Dewan stated that the 16 lawmakers affirmed by the Court of Appeal would not be recognised for now, as the Supreme Court had declared the Appeal Court’s judgment faulty and an abuse of court processes. The affected PDP lawmakers have appealed to the Supreme Court for a determination, seeking to overturn the judgment of both the Appeal Court and the National Assembly members.
BREAKING: Tinubu Suspends National Social Investment Programme Amid Corruption Probe
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended all administered programmes by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA). This is further to the ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes. In a statement on Friday, Segun Imohiosen, Director of Information in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said all four (4) Programmes administered by NSIPA, namely; N- Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme have been suspended for a period of six (6) weeks in the first instance. “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has also raised significant concerns regarding operational lapses and improprieties surrounding payments to the Programs’ beneficiaries.” “He has therefore constituted a ministerial panel to conduct a thorough review of the Agency’s operations with a view to recommending necessary reforms of the NSIPA. “During the period of this suspension, all NSIPA-related activities, including but not limited to all distributions, events, payments, collaborations, and registrations, are now frozen. “The President wishes to assure the stakeholders and all Nigerians that his administration remains committed to a swift and unbiased process that will ensure that, going forward, social intervention programmes will work exactly as intended, to the benefit of the most vulnerable Nigerians.”
Plateau Guber: S’Court Reveres Sack, Affirms Gov Mutfwang’s Election
The Supreme Court, Friday, reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeal that sacked Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State from office on ground of unlawful nomination. The judgement read by Justice Emmanuel Agim held that the court below made an error in allowing the All Progressives Congress APC to delve into the conduct of the primary election by the People’s Democratic Party PDP and nullified the election unjustly. The court held that the issue of primary election was an internal affairs of political parties and that no other party can dabble into it except members of the same party. Besides, Justice Agim said that the issue of alleged improper conduct of the ward and local governments election used to sack the Governor was not justiceable. According to him, the conduct of the ward and local governments election was an affairs of the State Executive Committee of a political party while the conduct of the primary election for the nomination of a governorship candidate is entirely that of the National Executive Committee of a political party. Also, the court established that there was no issue of irregularities in the ways and manners the Governorship primary election that produced the governor was conducted in Plateau and wondered why that of the ward election was used to nullify the gubernatorial poll. He said that evidence was even well adduced that an order of Plateau State High Court allegedly disobeyed was indeed obeyed by parties involved. Therefore, the court unanimously voided and set aside the order of the Court of Appeal that Nentawe Goshwehe, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) be inaugurated as Plateau State Governor. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Plateau State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which had earlier dismissed the petition of the APC and its governorship candidate. Governor Mutfwang of the PDP scored 525,299 votes to beat the All Progressives Congress candidate, Nentawe Yilwatda, who garnered 481,370 votes during the 18 March governorship poll in Plateau State. The governor’s election was upheld by the Plateau State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Jos, the state capital. However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in its judgement delivered on 19 November 2023, overturned Mr Mutfwang’s victory, prompting him to file an appeal at the Supreme Court to challenge the lower court’s decision.
Ebonyi Guber: S’Court Okeys Nwifuru’s Election
The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi state. In a lead judgment of a 5-man panel of Justices, Justice Tijani Abubakar held that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chukwuma Odi failed to prove any allegation of non compliance in the election. Consequently, the apex court in a unanimous decision dismissed the appeal by Odi for lacking in merit and a gross abuse of court process. The panel held that the PDP candidate cannot question the nomination of Nwifuru by his party, the APC. The Lagos state division of the Court of Appeal, had on November 24, 2023, affirmed the election of Francis Nwifuru as the duly elected governor of Ebonyi State in the March 18, governorship election. The three-member panel presided over by Justice Jummai Sankey, in its unanimous decision, dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party.